YouTube Working on “Shorts” – A TikTok Competitor

YouTube is looking to compete directly with the short-form, user-generated content app, TikTok, by reportedly launching its own version – called “Shorts”. This is via The Information.

MSNBC’s Dylan Byers further confirms this news.

This is potentailly big…. And, bonus: YouTube chief Susan Wojcicki and I talked about TikTok in a podcast episode that will air later this month. We’ve got an item coming soon confirming this news, along with a few of her comments on YouTube & short-form video >>> https://t.co/0Pqm6JqVUz

YouTube’s shorts will have the advantage of YouTube pre-existing and extensive catalogue of licensed music. Users will be able to upload brief videos into a feed inside the mobile app – similar to TikTok – and different from YouTube’s already established stories feature.

TikTok’s own MO is to allow users to select from categories of audio, music and otherwise, and create videos using these sounds – YouTube might be hoping that its own selection will outplay that of TikTok.

TikTok saw more than a 125% growth over the last two years, according to a report from App Annie in January. The Chinese app has hundreds of millions of users currently – most people know at least one person that uses it, it’s quickly becoming a cultural mainstay. The Information notes that TikTok had approximately 842-million first-time downloads from both Apple and Google’s app stores over the last 12 months — a 15 per cent increase year over year.

Understanding how quickly and how voraciously TikTok has grown, it’s no wonder why YouTube wants in on the action. However, this isn’t YouTube first foray into producing its own version of a popular feature within another social platform – as previously mentioned, YouTube adopted Instagram’s stories to the site.

With its more than 2-billion monthly active users, and its vast music licensing agreements, YouTube has all it needs to build its own version of TikTok. Facebook has also quietly developed its own version, known as Lasso. The social network has been testing it in markets like Brazil, under the radar, according to The Verge.